This November marked a year since large-language model ChatGPT launched publicly. With more than 100 million weekly active users and two million developers building on ChatGPT’s application programming interface, the large-language model developed by OpenAI Inc. is among the fastest growing consumer software in history, the Associated Press reported in early November. Banks, insurance companies, asset management firms and practice-management software developers have also integrated generative AI into their business processes.
OpenAI-powered assistant in wealth management
In September, New York-based Morgan Stanley Wealth Management rolled out an AI-powered assistant called AI @ Morgan Stanley as part of OpenAI’s first strategic partnership with a wealth management company. The internal tool lets Morgan Stanley’s financial advisors and their teams ask questions to access, process and synthesize large amounts of knowledge about companies, asset classes and capital markets.
AI-powered virtual assistant for retail banking
London, U.K.-based retail and commercial bank National Westminster Bank PLC (NatWest) enhanced its generative AI virtual assistant Cora+ in November. Cora+ is powered by IBM Corp.’s AI and data platform, watsonx, and provides customers with access to their banking information through conversational responses. The assistant can link to information from NatWest’s website, for example. Cora+ uses information from sources previously inaccessible via traditional chat alone, such as banking products and services. Customers are still able to speak with a live representative during business hours.
Financial advisors use AI-powered software to communicate with customers
California-based Faulkner Media Group, which makes FMG Suite, a marketing software for financial advisors, integrated ChatGPT and AI-powered compliance platform Vestorly in March. The AI engine combining the two technologies helps financial advisors craft social media content that’s engaging to read and algorithm friendly. The AI engine also meets Financial Industry Regulatory Authority guidelines, product manager Ali Baldari said in an email.
In August, Florida-based marketing technology company Snappy Kraken LLC launched an AI-powered email builder for financial advisors. The builder can generate headlines, text and images to help advisors reduce the time required to write emails, chief marketing officer Angel Gonzalez said in a release.
Robo-advisor supports human advisors
California-based Intuit Inc., which owns TurboTax, Credit Karma and QuickBooks, released its generative AI operating system, GenOS, in June. The system is a custom-trained, financial large-language model available across all Intuit platforms and specializes in solving issues related to tax, accounting, marketing, cash flow and personal finance. GenOS can draw on customer information from different Intuit platforms to create a broader picture of each user’s financial situation via a text-chat interface, Matthew Duffin, Intuit’s public relations and social lead, told Investment Executive.
Insurance fraud detection with generative AI
Paris, France-based Shift Technology integrated generative AI into its insurance industry software in October. Shift’s large-language model was trained with an extra insurance knowledge layer to provide it with industry-specific context and was developed with Microsoft Corp.’s Azure OpenAI Service for Insurance. The software helps insurance companies identify fraud risks, find subrogation opportunities and create document summaries for investigators.
This article appears in the December issue of Investment Executive. Subscribe to the print edition, read the digital edition or read the articles online.